Security

Serbia: Four arrested for cocaine smuggling

Belgrade, 20 Nov. (AKI) - Serbian police claimed to have smashed a major drug smuggling ring on Friday with the arrest of four suspects in the capital Belgrade for allegedly smuggling cocaine from Paraguay.

Serbian police said five kilos of cocaine worth 500,000 euros was seized after a courier package was intercepted from Paraguay.

Four people, Nebojsa Lukic, Natasa Randjelovic, Vladan Ristic and Aleksandar Jankovic, all from Belgrade, were arrested in relation to the package, said police.

Eight people were arrested in Serbia and Montenegro and four in Uruguay in connection with the smuggling scheme.

On Friday the former police chief of Belgrade Marko Nicovic told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the main destination points for cocaine smuggling from Latin America to Europe were the Montenegrin port of Bar, Rijeka in Croatia and Vlora in Albania.

He said the suspects arrested in October were just a “third league” of smugglers, servicing the real bosses who were still at large.

“One should not forget the Albanian mafia which, together with the Russians, rules Europe,” Nicovic claimed.

Nicovic made the remarks as a report was published in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera saying that organised crime in Serbia was assuming a greater role in the international cocaine market, shipping large quantities of the drug from Latin America via Africa to Europe.